Spanish Square and the Former Front Line
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Transcript
Spanish Square lies near buildings scarred by the 1990s conflict and close to the line that divided much of wartime Mostar. Its name commemorates Spanish peacekeepers killed while serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By 1993 former allies in the fight against Bosnian Serb forces were themselves at war in Mostar. Bosniak and Croat forces fought street by street, civilians were expelled or confined, and the urban fabric was heavily damaged.
This is where the bridge metaphor becomes insufficient. A city can possess a famous crossing while neighbourhoods become separated by armed force, institutions and fear.
Post-war Mostar has been rebuilt extensively, but political and educational divisions remain part of contemporary debate. We do not need to pretend a walking tour can diagnose the present perfectly.
The honest historical point is that urban division was made by policy and violence. Geography alone did not do it.